I thought I’d put in a good word for this new manufacturer! Unexpected Products makes a few resin kits for HO scale, which includes a lumber rack, some layout details, and the Baldwin BP-20 Sharknose originally made by Miracle Castings. I’d never heard of them before and found the website by chance, so I was hesitant to order anything for probably a few weeks, but decided to give them a shot and ordered the BP-20. I just got the kit in today, and the quality all looks great! Once I get a few other things out of the way, it’ll make for a nice project.[:)]
To my knowledge, the company is a 1-man operation, and it took some time to receive my kit since the owner is still getting things off the ground (and was apparently not feeling so well for a while - hoping he can get back to full health soon!). So if you order something and it doesn’t get sent right away, don’t worry. Just give it time!
Ordered my BP-20 as soon as I had read about it, clicked the link, and looked for it. I’ll support someone sight unseen who would try to make this shell available.
I look forward to watching Darth’s detail build progress!
I would PM this if Kalmbach IT was competent… but they’re not so I can’t.
Watching the Arbour 0-4-0 motor install reminded me that Unexpected Products ‘unexpectedly’ canceled my order for the shell. I thought at the time this might have been due to some of the Shark shells coming out a bit swaybacked… but there has been no update, all the links are dead… it’s Miracle Products 2.0
Since you indicated you’d had personal contact with the owner, can you find out the current state of the enterprise or the molds, and whether or not there are any plans to reissue the shells in the near future.
I just bought the Hobbytown kit for one of the Alco Models ‘⅔ of a T1’ set, so there may be use for another BP-20 sooner rather than later…
I do know the owner was unwell for a long time, so it’s possible he couldn’t keep the business going. I did send a message to him, so I’ll let you know if I get any response.
I was going to visit, but I got a warning saying that my connection to site was not private. Sadly I’m gonna play it safer than sorry. But it sounds interesting!
I just got a reply, and it sounds like the owner of Miracle Castings/Unexpected Products will no longer be producing them. However, he has handed the tooling over to a friend who own another resin casting business (I believe Railway Recollections, not 100% sure), and it sounds like he’ll be bringing them back in the near future! So there’s likely going to be a bit of a wait, but the BP20 will be back!
An update went up a few days ago from Railway Recollections. The BP-20 mold isn’t quite fitting the centrifuge he has on hand, so he’s working on a modification to the spin caster to make it work. Hopefully that means it’ll be back in production soon!
Spinning in resin force-fills the details, especially in a long casting, better. It may also help degas the resin as it fills, but I’d think you would still want a good vacuum degassing of the mixed resin before pouring – there is a surprising amount of trapped air even if you mix carefully, and for resin you want to mix thoroughly.
